The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-11-04
LAW VERSUS ANARCHY.

4
wondered at that unbalanced people are max
| ing themselves conspicuous with their senri-
| mental protests against the execution of the
sentence of the law upon the Chicago
/ Anarchists. It is one Of the unavoidable
| incidents of our criminal system that inter-
venes such protracted delays between the
| commission of crime and its punishment
1t is so easy to forget about the crime, and it
is almost as easy to forget the demands of
! the violated law and the rights of organized
| society. But those who are charged with the
responsibility Of the execution of the law can
not regard the clamor of these people, and
they cannot permit themselves to mistake
| their maudlin talk for public sentiment. The
| vast, overwhelming body of the American
people believe in the law. They have made
too many sacrifices for law, and they are
| deeply interested in seeing it
forced with righteousness and vigor
against every and all violators, whether
they be anarchical murderers or criminals
of other compilations. There is no other is
sue involved than the supremacy and the
sanctity of law. The people want to see the
law maintained, for they know that in the
law alone is there security for organized
society, for their homes and families, and for
all they hold dear. The authorities cannot
afford to tride with the law, and especially
cannot they afford to trife with it in the face
of such facts and influences as are arrayed in
the case of the Chicago murderers. It is a
square contest between the law and anarchy,
and never will there be so good a time to
teach all sorts of murderers and particularly
the murderers of society that the law in this
country cannot be violated. That is the
supreme duty of the hour now. No other
question or consideration be allowed to
weigh feather in the settlement of the
question. No other lesson will be so effica-
cious that enforced by the stately process
of the law. The Anarchist murderers have
been tried by the law. The law has been
invoked by and for them, and up to the high
est court of the country their cases have
received careful cons liberation. There is but
one step more, and that is the appeal to the
Governor. The Governor should, and doubt
less will, give the cases the same de-
iberate investigation that has been given
them in the courts below-for we may regard
the Governor as the final court. If there be
good reasons why the sentence of death ought
to be mitigated in the case of any of the men,
the Communication should be made in obedience
to the demands of the law, the purpose of
which is to do equal and exact justice; but
there should be no mitigation of the sentence
in answer to threats sentimentalism, for !
that would destroy the authority of the law,
which is the paramount consideration. We
have never responded to the force of the
suggestion that the execution of these men
would martyrize them, and that from the
scaffold the blood of martyrs would be the
seed of further and greater mischief. There
is no philosophy in the suggestion. 'tDead
heroes in bad cause are not dangerous"
Their immortality is not to be dreaded The
martyrdom of cowardly murderer is not
likely to attract much attention. But the
thing that is necessary is the enforcement of
the majesty and the inexorableness of the
law. That will kill anarchy and destroy the
seeds of it in this country quicker than any
thing else, and it is the only
thing that will. There should be no
mistake abo ut this. There is no demand or
necessity for blind and unreasoning revenge. |
It is not the families of the victims of the Hay
market massacre that are to be avenged, any |
more than that the families of the murderers |
should now call for suggest mercy; if these |
were to be considered, the widows and or |
phans of the brave men who were stricken |
down as the defenders of law and of society, |
in the line Of their duty, should be entitled to |
the first consideration. But that is not the |
thing The thing is the supremacy of LAW.
and legal reasons for making difference be- |
tween the convicted men, if it shall appear
that some of them are less consciously guilty |
than others, and he shall so decide within the |
limits of his legal authority and upon we'll
recognized and sound rules of law. there will
be perfect acquiesconce in his decision, for
the justice of the law will be thereby as much
vindicated as by the execution of the |
death penalty upon all But the ap-
plication for communication should be |
made on tenable grounds, and the appeal
should be on the lines of the law. There
does not seem to be any room for sentiment
or mercy. Mercy is based on penitence, and
the Anarchists seem to be as far from peni-
tence when they planned and promoted the
awful murder of Haymarket square. In
fact, they laugh the idea of clemency to
scorn; and should, for any reason, the grip of
the law be relaxed in degree, they would
regard it as al evidence Of weakness on the
part of the law and of society, weakness of
which not only they. but q whole residential